Bruce Kulick Names the Kiss Album That ‘Got So Screwed’

Bruce Kulick regrets that his final album with Kiss didn’t get its rightful time in the spotlight.

In a new interview with VRP Rocks, which can be seen below, the guitarist explains how 1997’s Carnival of Souls got lost amid the excitement generated by the band’s 1996 original lineup reunion tour.

“It’s a record that got so screwed,” Kulick declares. Prior to the recording of Carnival of Souls, the band’s then-current lineup of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Kulick and Eric Singer had just completed filming an episode of MTV Unplugged, which concluded with a surprise appearance by founding members Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.

Unbeknown to Kulick and Singer, even as the Carnival recording sessions were taking place the original lineup began negotiating for a worldwide reunion tour that would see them once again don their famous face paint and outrageous stage costumes.

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To make matters worse, Simmons and Stanley were divided about the direction of the new album. Simmons was enthralled by the darker, more serious music being made by grunge and alt-rock bands at the time. Stanley wasn’t sure that sound was right for Kiss. As he explained in the band’s 2001 book Kiss: Behind the Mask, “I never believed the world needs a second-rate Soundgarden, Metallica or Alice in Chains.”

Ultimately, Simmons’ vision won out. Kulick explains that he worked hard to help warm Stanley up to the idea of an “edgier, darker Kiss,” locking himself in a room to come up with riffs and song ideas, and eventually ending up with nine co-writing credits on the album. “I know it’s a record that [Stanley’s] not proud of, yet for some fans, they love it. He’s entitled to that opinion of course,” Kulick tells VRP. “But I look back at Carnival Of Souls and I just wish it was mixed a little differently but I’m still proud of it.”

With a full title of Carnival of Souls: The Final Sessions, the album was unceremoniously dumped into record stores in October of 1997 after being shelved for over a year, and is to date one of only three Kiss albums to have not achieved gold sales status in the United States.

Bruce Kulick Commemorates 35th Anniversary of Kiss’ ‘Hot in the Shade’

Earlier this week Kulick commemorated the 35th anniversary of Kiss’ 1989 album Hot in the Shade by posting a photo of a rare pyramid tchotchke from the record’s promotional campaign, and by offering up a limited edition Pick Tin set with artwork inspired by the album. He will appear at Spooky Empire in Orlando on Nov. 1-3, and at the Las Vegas Guitar show on Nov. 8th and 9th.